Process of curing meat.



UNITED sT-AirEs PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN c. LINCOLN, OE CLEVELAND, OHIO, AssIGNOR, BY MEsNE ASSIGNMENTS, To THE ELECTRIC MEAT oUEING cOMPANar, OE CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OE MAINE PROCESS O'FcumNG MEAT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Aug. 10, 1909.

To all-whom it mag/concern.: y Re it known that l., JOHN C. LINCOLN, a@ citizen of the United States, residing-at Cleve land, Ain the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Processes of Curing Meat, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

tricity.

the" use of an alternating current which causes such reactions at the electrodes that the chlorin immediately enters into Vcombination instead of being given off as a gas, and by continuous] cooling the brine outside of the curing tan I aml enabled to overcome any harmful heating by the cur-rent and to provide a continuous circulation at temperature around the meat.

In carrying out this process Ihave devised 4certain apparatus, hereinafter more fully'described.

The drawings show the apparatus 'and thereby illustrate the process.

Figure 1 isa vertical section through the curin` and cooling tanks of `the apparatus and i0. 2 is a plan ofthe apparatus.

As s own inthe drawings, 1 represents ak curing tank adapted to contain meat 2, which is separated by suitable frames or slattings 20. This tank has a rubberovcrflow pipe 3 which is adapted to discharge into a tank 4 and from this latter tank near its bottom leads a pipe l5 vto apump 6. From this pump a pipe 7 leads to the other end of the tank 1 and discharges into that tank through arubber hose 8. This enablesthe brine to be circulated continuously, whichis Oneof the essential steps inmy method.

Contained in the tank 1 near its opposite ends are porous cups arranged in two sets 9 andA 10, as shown. The cups containelectrode's, all the .electrodes in each set of cups' being connectcdin parallel. Thus the elec- -positive electrodes.

proper Aquickly enough to allow the trodes in the cups 9 are connected with'the conductor 11 and those in the cups 10 with the conductor 12. These conductors lead to the terminals of a suitable source of alternating currentkas a transformer or a generator 13. During the curing, this generator is 'caused to pass an alternate current from either s et of electrodes to the other through the meat. The electric current increases the rapidity of curing to avery great degree.

v Heretofore in the electric curing of meat a direct current has been used, which has the disadvantage of liberating chlorin at the With an alternating current, however," this is obviated,' for as soon as the current decomposes the salt into sodium and chlorin, the sodium reacts on the water to produce sodium hydrate and this hydrate and' chlorin react to duce chlorates and chlorites without li erating free chlorin. This is of i great importance, for it has heretofore been troublesome ,to take care ofthe chlorin gas. The allowable variation in current strength through the meat is not great, and the proper amper nating current produces a very regular' and even action on the meat. For all of thesev age can be much easier` Obtained with an alternating current derived from a roperly selected transformer. Moreover, t ealterreasons it is preferable to use an alternating current The process maybe carried out,

however, b using a direct current, which operates e ciently with my system of clrculating Athe brine and circulatlng'lt Outside of the main tank. The porous cups 9, which are preferably used with the alternating'curent to hold the sediment from the dlslntevgrating electrodes, 'become of.furthervv .value With a direct current in preventing .the chlorin gas passing into the meat. l

' To prevent lthe circulating pipes from short circuiting the current, I provide the rubber connections 3 and 8 referred to, which .interrupt any elect`ric`conductorby way of As the current heats the brinefl rovide means for cooling it so that it may e used continuously. In order to cool the brine roper circulation, the cooling means must have a considerable area exposed to the brine and must be metallic to be a roper heat conductor. To enable such coo ingA means to act roperly on the brine without being subjectedp to elecmaximum during curing.

f" As there is considerable lfrothing ol' the brine' in the tank 4, I close its top providing it with a cover 18, and I )rovide a suitable strainer 19 over the moutli of the pipe 3 to catch any particles4 of meat carried over from theI curing tank. v

I found thatmy apparatus operates very efiiciently with a strong brine, say, yol" about 82%, wi-th tem erature maintained between 33 degrees an 38 degrees F., and with a current of between 34 and 38 amperes. With such current and temperature and the brine continuously circulated, I am enabled to produce well-nigh perfect results 1.in cur-v l ing meat.

.lng such curing.

I'Iaving thus described my invention, I claim:

A1. The process ofcurin vmeat consisting of circulating brine throug a tank contain'- 1n the meat, cooling the brine in a tank outs1 e of the curing tank, and passing an electric current through the meat and brine dur- 2: The process `of curing meat consisting of circulating brine through atank containing sists in circulating brine about the meat,

coolingthc brine in a tank outside ol' the curing tank and passing an alternating current through the brineand meat.

4. 'Ihc process ol' curing meat consisting of imniersing the same in a tank containing brine, circulating the brine through the tank, cooling the brine outside oi' the tank durin its circulation by means which do not dilute the brine, and passing an alternating current through the meat and brine during such curing while protecting the contents of thc tank from ycontamination at the electrodes by the interposition ol porous members.

5. The process ol curing meat consisting of circulating brine through a tank containing themeat, cooling such brine outside of the tank during its circulation b an electric current through the mea't and brine during such curing.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aiiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

' JOHNC. LINCOLN.

'Witnesses ALBERT H.'BATEs, S. E. Fou'rs.

means which do not dllute thgfbrme, aiu passino` 

